Tormented Skies
by Red-Like-Lithium
Summary: He wasn't done; he had to at least try, once more, to bring her home. Even if he knew it was hopeless. {AccidentShipping}


**A/N: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL:) AccidentShipping, takes place before the legit Barian war starts and after Rio regains her memories of her past life. Did I plan out this fanfic and the setting? Absolutely not~**

**SPOILERS**

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><p>.<p>

_"Are you alright with it?"_

_"With what?"_

_"Nothing...it's just that he seemed pretty upset to see you go."_

_"_Che_, coming from you."_

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><p>.<p>

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Merag stands, in her Barian form, awaiting the trigger of the war.

Who knows where the others are. Preparing, she supposes. The city is in chaos, and Nasch had seemed especially distraught. Not that she blames him. She, too, is uneasy about fulfilling her new duty; the one against her former friends and comrades, her former home and life.

"I guess this would be considered the calm before the storm, eh?"

Merag starts, whipping around to face someone familiar. She frowns inwardly, unable to display such an emotion with her otherworldly figure. "We're enemies. You realize that, right?"

"And why wouldn't I? After you pushed me away?"

The Barian girl looks away, remembering all too vividly. Though she says nothing, doesn't even acknowledge his presence further. She tenses, however, as his footsteps sound in an advancing volume.

And then he's standing right beside her, arms folded across his chess, scowl on his scarred face. He doesn't so much as glance at her, just stares off at the crumbling town. His coat billows in the breeze a little; a cold breeze on a warm evening.

They stand in a chilled silence for a while, taking in the beginning of the end.

But after too long, Merag can't stand it any more. She glares over at this human who she once knew, and mutters, "We're not allies any more. Do not treat me like you know me, coming and sitting yourself next to me like this. I'm not the person you once saved."

"I know that," IV replies, gaze empty and aimed away from her. "You are a Barian. With memories of a life you once knew."

He knows this because of a few days ago. After Merag regained her insight of her past life, she had wandered the city, an alien world to her then. Not knowing where she was going and avoiding contact with anyone she knew, she'd walked. Just _walked_. She was unlucky, though. IV had tracked her down, slightly worried after neither she or her brother had turned up for such a time.

IV had asked her where she'd been; she hadn't answered. He's asked if she was okay; she'd merely nodded and turned away. When he grasped her wrist, shouting about how everyone was concerned, she'd smacked him off. And when he'd frowned softly and questioned about her well-being, Merag screamed to her heart's content, spilling everything she did understand what and didn't, while IV listened and said nothing.

When IV had tried to comfort her, she'd run.

And now, here they are, two warriors of the opposing side, watching a dying planet.

The building they stand upon, on the roof, is crumbling in areas. Merag wonders why the hell IV would be so foolish as to climb up to the top of a weakened structure just to chat idly with an antagonist such as herself. She hisses something under her breath, and the young man blinks, still not looking at her.

"You're a fool, approaching me," Merag points out. "Apparently you've forgotten that I could drag you down into a Duel right now, and take your life if I pleased."

IV doesn't seem fazed; in fact, something like amusement pricks in his maroon eyes. "And if you did, I'd fight to my very last breath."

Merag thinks about that, wondering if he'd meant that he planned on winning...or that he'd die trying to bring her back.

"Rio-"

"I don't know anyone by that name, IV."

He grit his teeth, still facing forward and clenching his hands against his arms, which had been crossed all this time. "_Rio_. You don't have to do this, you know. We can come to a place in the middle, we can win together without either of us losing a thing."

"You don't know me, IV. You don't know why I fight."

"You're right," he growls, voice holding a low, dangerous tone. "But if we were to explain each side of the story, we could figure something out. If you and Ryouga didn't bottle everything up, stopped running from your problems and the people who care about you both, maybe we could cease this madness and be on the same side."

Merag laughs. It's quiet and forced, and she hates the sound of it. "There is no way we could ever hope to do that, IV."

"And how do you know that for sure?" His words had risen to a louder sound that penetrate her ears and tear at her icy heart.

And finally, IV turns. He looks Merag straight in the eye, rage and pain and sadness in his unrelenting stare, so compelling and unwavering that she is unable to break it.

"_'There is no way we could ever hope to do that'_," IV reiterates slowly. "_Baka_... So you _do_ hope we can stop this, that we can all be on the same side of the coin with a common enemy."

"What?"

"You said it yourself, Rio."

Merag hadn't even noticed how angry she was until she peers down to she's in her 'human' form. She rushes forward, a sharp crack sounding around the thick air. IV is silent after that, head snapped to the side with a bruise appearing on his cheek. The Barian takes in a deep breath, straightening and narrowing her gaze at him. "I wish this wasn't happening. But there is nothing we can do, IV."

"You know...," he muses weakly, smiling at her, ignoring the sting. "There was a time when you called me 'Thomas'."

Merag visibly winces, no reply coming to her troubled mind. It was just so hard...to portray as a harsh creature who hates the ones she'd once laughed and shared secrets with. And IV was just making it all the more difficult. Why did he care...if she was an enemy now...? After she had betrayed everyone, whether they knew or not yet? Why was he still treating her like he cared for her...?

"Everything I have done up to this point has been against everyone, against _you_," Merag whispers. "So quit acting like I'm your friend."

IV hadn't once allowed his eyes to leave her. Merag watches he approaches her and leans forth a bit, a gentle smile still gracing his face. "I suppose there really is nothing I can do to change your mind, Rio. I truly am the worst."

Merag overlaps her arms across her abdomen in an unconscious self-protection effort. She avoids her own gaze, for she simply can't bring herself to meet him halfway.

"But it's the least I can do...," he murmurs, guilt lacing the hushed sentence. "Rio, if you won't allow me to think of you as a friend..." He trails off, and she's about to retort something, but is cut off.

IV's lips brush against her own, pressing against them, washing away anything she had been willing to say to him. They stay like that a second, as the guy who had once saved her life sends all of his desperation through that one little gesture. After a moment or so, he pulls away, only a little. He sighs, barely audible, finishing what he'd begun to tell her. "...then let me think of you as more."

.

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"Are you alright with it?" Nasch inquires later.

Merag returns his question with another. "With what?"

He exhales, thinking about what was on his mind. "Nothing...it's just that he seemed pretty upset to see you go." Merag flinches, and her brother keeps pushing. "A few days ago, I saw you two on the street. I may not like him all that much, but I wonder if you have the heart to go against him and everyone else."

"_Che_, coming from you."

"Why are you so on edge?"

Nasch doesn't know about what IV and her had discussed only hours before. Nasch doesn't know that Merag has already claimed her position as a Barian Lord and has pushed _that_ man away from her future.

Even though it had been IV to leave the rooftop first, not a word after his last struggle at taking her home.

"...Nasch," she speaks, "I am fully prepared to carry out my duties, and to return to the life I once lived."

Her sibling seems to scowl uncertainly, but only replies with a curt, "Good."

.

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Merag touches her human lips with two fingers not nearly long enough later.

She does so as she watches the soul of an old friend depart into the tormented skies from afar. No...she does so as she witnesses the heart of _someone more_ being ripped away from the people he cared about.

Merag sheds yet another tear that day. Because now she has the asnwer: that he had decided to die trying to bring her and Nasch back to their side.

What a fool, he was.

What a fool, Thomas was, for getting himself killed like that; before Rio could apologize and return that gesture of his.

.

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_~Finish~_

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><p><strong><em>AN: I've shipped this ever since Thomas tried to save Rio in the fire he caused and got that scar. Honestly, not to offend anyone, but I cannot stand DiamondShipping, and the only other Rio pairing I can understand and am fine with is DurbexRio. I dunno, there's something about IVxRio that makes sense and I can't help but love.  
>ANYWHOO, I hope it's alright:)<em>**


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